In Which Our Worlds Come Crashing Down Revised
by Mame-Chii
Summary: Things are not always as they seem...To seek revenge.To forgive others.To forgive yourself.These things are very difficult for some.To hold onto hope,or to let go when it seems all is lost.Make your choices wisely...you can never know who you may hurt...


In Which Our Worlds Come Crashing Down

Chapter One: The Impenetrable City Broken Down

The night air filled with black smoke, and the flames that burned the buildings seemed to reach towards the sky like wretched little hands. People were screaming and shouting and running every which way, causing even more chaos and confusion. Soldiers of the city were fighting the enemy and trying to escort the citizens to safety. People were sobbing, and they cursed at the sky and shook their fists yelling in vain at the gods as to why they would allow this to happen.

Atem ran through the streets in a desperate panic, but he tried his best to keep calm. It would not do any good if his people saw him worry, especially now. His eyes burned, and he tried to rub them with the back of his hand but that only seemed to make things worse. He kept bumping into people as he passed them. At one point, an Invader tried to attack a small child, but Atem gave the creature a body slam, and slashed him with his sword, succeeding in killing it. A soldier who was escorting a few people passed, and Atem called to him.

"Valn, take this child with you!"

Valn quickly complied, and a woman took the child saying, "I'll care for him until his mo…." She held back tears. "I'll take care of him."

"Have any of you seen Yugi?" Atem asked.

The people shook their heads. A young girl then replied, "Prince… your feet…"

Atem looked down, and realized he was barefoot. In the midst of the confusion, he had forgotten to put on his shoes. His feet were now cut up and bloody, but Atem did not feel a thing. He was numb all over and was running on adrenaline, and these two factors must have helped. Atem smiled weakly at the girl. "I'm fine." He said. "Hurry and go to the Sky Fortress. I will gather a team and meet you there when I can. I have to find Yugi and everyone else."

"May your prayers be answered, Pharaoh!" Valn yelled.

"May the gods favor you in your journey!" Atem called back.

As Atem ran, he fought off any Invaders that came into his path, along with a few Humans who worked with the Invaders. Atem almost tripped over a woman who sat in the middle of the road and her sobs added to the confusion. She was covered in blood, and her body shook with sobs. She simply stared at one the many burning houses before her.

"You have to get out of here!" Atem shouted at her, but she did not seem to be listening to him.

"Didn't you hear me?" he yelled, and grabbed her shoulder. "You have to get out of here!"

"Where am I supposed to go?" she suddenly yelled at him, and she slapped his hand away. "I have nothing now! Tare… Jule… Yal… They are gone, and I have nothing… they took my Tare…"

Atem decided to take her with him, when he felt a sudden jolt from someone hitting him on the head. He could hear the woman screaming something, whether it was anger or fear, or a mix of both he did not know. Everything went black.

It had been only almost an hour earlier, when Atem had finished his patrols for the night. He had been tired, but he missed nothing. He made sure of it. If he thought he saw something, he would tell one soldier where he was going, and to keep an eye out just in case. Everyone was a little paranoid nowadays, and for good reason. Better safe than sorry.

The stars that night looked as if they took all the courage they could muster to just peep out. Atem took a deep breath. It had been a few months since the last attack, almost six to be precise. The last attack had taken the Western Stronghold, and now everyone was at the Eastern Stronghold, which was called, Irompble.

Atem was relieved to finally be able to go to his house. Even his horse Ret was tired, but he seemed just as relieved to rest as Atem was. The house was small and simple, with only enough room for three people, but even having two in there was tight. He had been offered the largest house in the city, but he had told the people to use it as a hospital. Atem put Ret into a makeshift shed next to the house, and he went in, pulled the shoes off of his sore feet and went to sleep.

He was awoken by an explosion, and at first he thought it was a dream. There was a second explosion, which was really close this time, and it made the entire house shake. The alarms were going off, and they sounded as if they were in pain. Atem grabbed his sword, and he completely forgot about his shoes. He went to get his horse, but saw the second explosion had caused the shed to collapse on Ret. Blood pooled from his mouth, and Atem just stared blankly at him for a moment. "F-Father's horse…"

Atem quickly took action, and he began to fight the Invaders. The Invaders were nasty creatures that smelled vile, and they looked as if they had been sewn together of numerous body parts of whatever mix of Races that had been killed in order to make them. The reason that they were so dangerous was that they could simply replace a missing body part with anything that was already dead. The only sure way to kill them was decapitation, and then a stab in the stomach. The Necromancer Spell that animated them if they died was in the stomach, and they had surprisingly sturdy armor. It sometimes took three or more people to kill just one, but Atem had sheer super-human strength and a sturdy sword that enabled him to take them out singlehandedly.

Their smell and loud grunts helped people know who and what was attacking them, but unfortunately, some Humans had also joined in the ranks of Azurd, the man whom they were currently up against in this war. A man tried to attack Atem, but Atem swiftly took care of him.

"What is going on?" he called to one of his men. The man looked terrified. "It's Bakura." He said in an eerie whisper. "We can't win… we have already lost…"

"Stop thinking like that and get the women and children out of here!" Atem ordered angrily. He glared at the destruction before him. Fire, blood and bodies of both people; his citizens and those of his enemy, along with Invaders scattered the ground. Atem gritted his teeth, and angrily whispered, "Bakura…"

Atem pointed his sword at the night sky and yelled, "BAKURA! If you can hear me, I promise you that you will meet your end by my sword!"

"Atem! Atem!" someone called. Atem slowly opened his eye. His head was reeling from nausea. He gingerly put a hand on where his head hurt, and felt that the back of his head was wet and sticky.

"Atem, are you alright?" the voice asked.

"Yugi!" Atem said in relief. Before Atem could ask, Yugi explained that a Human Invader had clubbed him, and was about to go after the woman, but Yugi had fought him and killed him.

"Where are the others?" Atem asked.

"I don't know…" said Yugi. "Miho said she was going to escort some of the people out and then come and find me or you. I don't know about Jou or Shezuka, and I don't know where Anzu is either."

Yugi looked scared and worried, but once again showing confidence and courage that he did not have, Atem said, "Everything will be alright."

They grabbed the woman and had to drag her to a carriage that was getting people out. Just then, there was a swooshing sound and an arrow was sticking out of the woman's chest. The brothers stared at her in unison for a brief moment, before they had to let go of her in order to dodge an onslaught of arrows, which shot nearly all of the people in the carriage, including its driver. Yugi just seemed to space out; looking at all of the death and the blood, but Atem grabbed Yugi and shoved him onto the carriage and then he jumped into the driver's seat and took the reins. He began to tell people to get in as he passed them.

As they were about to exit one of the alleys, a small groups of Humans and Invaders blocked their path. They all raised their swords and spears, and they grinned. Atem forced the carriage to stop. One of the Human Invaders smiled, but with only one side. A hideous scar on the left side of his face made the side of his mouth go into a nasty scowl, and he had an eye patch over his left eye. "Well, well. If it ain't the Pharaoh and his brother." He said in a mocking manner. "One would recognize those crazy hairstyles anywhere."

"Galfrid!" Yugi said angrily. "Why would you do this?"

"I just joined the winning side," replied Galfrid, with a casual shrug. "If you knew what was good for you, you would join Azurd as well. He is the future of this world, and you, Pharaoh Atem, are in the past."

Atem glared at Galfrid, who continued; "You should have just gave up the day your father died. That was the day this war was lost for the rebellion. I learned that the hard way," he pointed to his scar. "But you are too thick headed and stubborn to realize this fact."

"I am glad that I will never 'realize the fact' the rebellion has lost." Atem said. "I will not admit defeat here!" Atem, Yugi, and the other soldiers raised their weapons.

"Try and get past us." One of the Invaders taunted. Those who could fight readied themselves for battle. Just then, a clear voice called, "Congelación de piedra!"

The Invaders all had a surprised look frozen on their faces. Atem stared sadly at Galfrid for a moment. "I'm sorry…" he whispered. "I'm sorry that I could not keep your hopes for our side up. I'm sorry that I am not as strong as my father."

"Miho! You're okay!" Yugi said in relief.

Miho only grinned. Her green eyes sparkled, even in the darkness, and her silvery hair shown like moonlight. It hung loosely in her face, and she swept her bangs out of her eyes, pointed at the petrified Invaders.

"Viento Slasher." Silver gusts of wind cut through the statues, effectively killing each of them. "I lost my hair ribbon, and my clothes got burned and tattered." She reported disappointingly, albeit with a straight face. She then sat delicately on the carriage, and said, "Well, shall we be off then?"

They raced through the city, navigating their way through the battle. Atem left the carriage in someone else's care once he was sure they would be safe. Miho and Yugi followed him closely, and effectively took care of any enemies that crossed their paths.

Atem then saw Anzu, Jonouchi and Shezuka all trying to fight their way out of a hoard of Invaders. Unfortunately, Anzu was a healer-type mage, and Shezuka could not use her abilities. Jonouchi was doing his best to fight his way out.

Miho looked at Atem. "What do you want to do?"

"Follow me!" he said, and they complied. "Yugi, take those on the right. I will take those on the left. Miho, flank the others when I give the signal."

Yugi and Atem worked quickly, and thankfully they had the element of surprise on their side. "It's the Pharaoh!" one of the Invaders shouted. "Miho!" Atem yelled. A few seconds afterwards, wind began to slash through each of the Invaders. That gave Atem, Yugi and Jonouchi the chance to finish them off.

"I thought for sure we were gonna die just then!" he said. He supported Shezuka as they walked towards Atem and the others.

"Sorry I'm so useless at times like this…" she said, looking guilty.

"You've got all sorts of uses, sis!" he said grinning. "It's not that big a deal!"

"Atem!" Anzu cried, nearly in tears. She ran into his arms, and both held each other tightly. "I was so scared…" she whispered.

"I would never let anything happen to you." Atem said with a small smile. "But I promised, right?"

"You're injured." Anzu said, and she gingerly touched his face.

Atem was about to reply, when someone said, "There you are, commander. I was looking all over."

Sal rode up on his horse, and he led a few more horses behind him. "I am afraid some of you will have to share, there were not enough horses for everyone."

Sal's armor was slightly dented, and his helmet hid his face and slightly muffled his voice. Everyone mounted one of the horses, so Anzu rode with Atem. Yugi and Jonouchi shared a horse, and Miho and Shezuka rode the last one. They traveled fast, finally reaching the gate.

"Look!" Yugi yelled and pointed. He looked terrified. Everyone's eyes followed Yugi's pointing finger high up above them; right to the top of the gate they intended to exit. A white haired figure stared down at them with menacing red eyes, and a slight smirk on his face.

"Bakura." Atem and Anzu said, almost simultaneously. Atem said it in anger, and Anzu said it in complete and utter fear. She grabbed her shoulders, and began to shake. "Please Atem, let's go… please… Don't fight him."

They slowly road the horses through the gate, and they all could feel Bakura staring down at them. Not one of them knew what to do. What if he attacked? Could any of them hold him off? Bakura was fast and precise. Many people knew that from personal experience, and not many lived to tell about it.

"Where is he? Does anyone know?" Anzu kept whispering. She held Atem tightly, and was close to tears. When they were far enough away, they looked back. Bakura was gone.

"Where is he?" Anzu yelled, wide-eyed. Everyone looked around in a panic. Was Bakura attacking? "He's playing games with us." Jonouchi said in a loud whisper.

They looked at the now fallen city, Irompble. They could hear a mix of shouts and screams. It was nearing sunrise, and the black clouds against the sun created an eerie effect. Irompble was now dank, gray and broken.

"That was the last major stronghold." Shezuka said. "Azurd has taken it. We have lost."

No one spoke up to disagree with her. She was right. Azurd had dealt them a major blow in this war. "Hope is not lost, right?" Miho spoke up after a few minutes. "I mean, we can still fight… can't we?"

Instead of answering, Atem turned his horse south. He took off his shirt and tore it, then tied it around his head, effectively hiding his hair. He winced because his head was still sore, but he did not feel like thinking about it at the moment. "Yugi, hide your hair as well. It's just like Galfrid said, we are too recognizable." Yugi wordlessly complied.

"You saw Galfrid?" Jonouchi asked.

"He had joined the Invaders," Miho replied. "But, he is dead now."

"Let's head for Lake Alguruna." Atem said. "We will recuperate, and think of a plan there."

They all followed Atem, wondering what they were going to do now. Azurd could not have won yet, could he?

Author Notes:

Questions will be answered in upcoming chapters.

Just a quick explanation about everyone-

Atem and Yugi are Humans.

Anzu is a Healer-type mage (Magic user) and is not Human.

Jonouchi is a half-Elf, while Shezuka is a full blooded Elf. They are half siblings.

Shezuka's abilities will be explained in upcoming chapters.

Anzu and Atem are lovers (if that is not obvious).

Both Sal and Azurd are my own characters. Sal is Human.

Who and what Azurd is will be explained in upcoming chapters.

I do not own any of the YGO characters.

Also, there will not be any YGOTAS references.


End file.
